Historical background of Easter

Today is a landmark day in the Christian Calendar being the day Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead – which occurred four days prior on Good Friday – and ascended to heaven. With Guyana being one of the few countries having substantial blocs of adherents of all the three top major religions in the world – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism – it is significant that Easter has become a national festival.
Christianity, of course, was the religion of the Europeans who colonised Guyana and they imposed that religion on the Indigenous Peoples who were relegated to the hinterland, and then on the slaves and indentured labourers they imported to work on their plantations. These produced and exported – under abysmal conditions for the workers – sugar, cotton and coffee. Since the colonisers – the Dutch and the British – were generally Protestants, this was the variant of Christianity promulgated by the official churches, which worked hand in glove with the governments. After slavery, for instance, the Christian Churches were funded by the state to “educate” the freed-slaves, the Indigenous Peoples and later the other labour immigrants.
The Madeiran Portuguese brought their Roman Catholic brand of Christianity when they arrived in 1835 and being strong in their orientation, established several Cathedrals, churches and schools that operated in accordance with their religious beliefs. During slavery, even the languages of the African slaves were forbidden, much less their indigenous spiritual practices. These were derided as “pagan” and “animistic” and proffered as proof of Africans being on the lowest rung of humanity on the “great chain of being” postulated by Christian theologians.
Ironically, this position was an advance on the views of the Spanish Christian monk, Bartholomew de Las Casas, who insisted Africans had no soul so enslaving them was actually beneficial since they would be exposed to the beneficent influences of the “soul-full” Christian masters. The same logic was used in Africa and today, with African contributing 40% of the Christian flock, it is also their fastest growing demographic. In his book, “Things fall apart” the African author Chinua Achebe describes this spread of Christianity and displacement of indigenous spiritual practices in Iboland of Nigeria. It is poignant that in the acclaimed Afrofuturistic movie, “Black Panther”, which envisions an African not colonised by Europe, each of the five tribes practice their own spiritual practices, including communing with ancestors, without any conflict.
In Guyana, however, like the Indigenous Peoples, Peoples of African Descent are mostly Christians. However, a growing number are turning to Islam – which some of their ancestors practiced in Africa, eg, the Fulani – which was extirpated during slavery. This reflects global trends that will see Islam displace Christianity as the largest religion in the world by 2060. The Indian immigrants were Hindus (80%) or Muslims (20%). Christian indentured servants were at best, a handful. However, with the pressures of the dominant Christian-run schools and the premise of Guyana being a “Christian nation” during the colonial era, Hindus especially were converted in massive numbers to Christianity. It is a tribute to the tenacity of the Muslims to their faith than their numbers have actually grown absolutely and proportionately. The last group of immigrants, the Chinese, had already been converted to Christianity in China.
As a consequence of the above-described history – even though the older denominations have ceased propylitization – Christianity in Guyana is today the major (54%) religion in the country when their various “denominations” are conflated. But even for the substantial other religions, Easter is significant for several “secular” practices that have come to be associated with the event. On Good Friday, it is almost universally accepted there would be a catastrophe if one were to go to work. Kite flying has become quintessentially Guyanese and is practiced by Guyanese of all faiths at this time of the year, even though it is thought it might be symbolic of Jesus’ ascension. There are other events such as the “Bartica Regatta” and the Annual Easter Hat Show at this time.
Happy Easter!